Not a Word Needs To Be Spoken
by isahbellah
Summary: "You have three days", Laufey whispers before he vanishes into thin cold air, leaving a human scrawny Thor and a human mute Loki alone. - Little Mermaid AU, Frostiron.
1. Where is he?

**AN**: This is a Little Mermaid AU/Crossover. More information can be found at my Tumblr.

* * *

Tony was bored. Ever since he joined this "Avenger Initiative" – A.K.A Fury's Super Secret Boyband in Disguise – he's had to go to these kind of meetings. Seriously, the last time he had to go to a meeting like this it was back when he didn't have Pepper to save him.

And yet here he is, having to listen to Nick Fury go on and on about some stupid mission somewhere he's never even heard of.

"...Stark? Are you listening?" Fury asked, his one eye glaring at Tony like it could pierce through him. Huh, funny. Fury could look menacing, but honestly, Tony didn't give two fucks about him or whatever he was talking about.

"Of course not, dear." Tony replied smirking, as if Fury wasn't already well aware of the fact that Tony hardly ever listened to anyone.

Clint just chuckles by his side, trying to be serious in front of his 'Boss' but failing miserably. Bruce tried not to show the little smile that spreads his face, while Steve frowned a little and Natasha simply rolled her eyes at Tony.

"He said we're going to Jötunheim, Tony." Steve, the ever-helpful soldier, tries to explain to Tony.

"...Yeah, I don't follow." Tony said, with an eyebrow quirked at Steve.

"It's another planet. You know, from the Norse Mythology?" Now it was Bruce speaking up, and Tony still wasn't understanding where exactly they were going with this conversation.

Tony never really got into Mythology. He tried, but it just wasn't his cup of tea.  
Oh, tea. That's another thing Tony also tried to like, but ended up not doing so.

When Tony was younger, he wanted people to like him. And by "people", he actually meant his father.

He tried everything: learning how to write/read at a young age, learning science at a young age, having a refined taste in music, having a refined taste in food, building things that kids at his age wouldn't even know the name of, etc.

Needless to say, all of these efforts failed miserably.

"-Are you seriously dozing off right now, Stark? THIS IS IMPORTANT!" Fury roared, getting more and more irritated at how Tony was just ignoring everything around him.

Tony just sighed. He'd agreed to participate in this 'project', right? He might as well pay at least a little attention to it. Just a little, though. 12% of it.

"Fine, fine, I'm listening now. Tell me what we're doing in Yoyoland." Stark said, trying to hide the hint of disinterest in his tone.

"Jötunheim."

"Same thing." Tony defied.

Fury took a deep breath, trying to calm down. He didn't need this shit. He didn't need Stark testing his patience like that, but S.H.I.E.L.D needed more information about that planet. It'd been two years since they found Captain America frozen, and two years since they found that damned glowing cube.

They desperately needed more information about the Tesseract, and what better way to get it than to go to the place it had come from?

"Stark, you all are going to Jötunheim to try and find answers about the Tesseract. What's it made of, what it does, how it does it- any information you can get."

"And what if I say no?"

Fury scoffed. Right, as if Stark's opinion had any bearing on the matter.

"I'm _sure_ my best agents can persuade you." Fury turned to look at Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton, then took his leave. The message was delivered. End of meeting.

* * *

Odin was a very righteous king.

But don't get him wrong. Everything he did, he did for his people and his family. Before everything else, Odin was a very protective father, husband and ruler.

The Frost Giants actually liked how he ruled. That wasn't what they worried about.

They had a hard time with his was the oldest and therefore the most "serious" one. He was always bossy toward his younger brothers, and wasn't much of a problem for the Jötunn.

But then there was Thor. Thor generally was okay to the Frost Giants, he was just too... eager. Too easy-going. Always the "golden boy". And going everywhere and doing everything with his younger brother, Loki.

Loki. We'll get to **THAT ONE **later.

Högun is the third oldest brother, and the quietest of them all. That wouldn't have bothered the Jötunn too much, if only Högun didn't always carry his _weapons_. Yes. _WEAPONS_. Meaning 'more than one'. Not that the Frost Giants didn't have weapons of their own. They did. But Hogün's choice of weapons went far beyond what might be considered normal.

After Högun was Volstägg, who ate everything in front of him. Most of the time that was fine; they didn't have a lot of issues with food; except for when they were saving up for the winter. Yes, Jötunheim had winter. You do not want to know what their winter is like. They didn't have any trouble with the snow, but the shortage of food and lack daylight was a little annoying, to say the least. – but honestly, it was the EXCESSIVE eating that disturbed them.

Fandral was... one of the most displeasing princes. Simply because he was... always "courting" the young Jötunn. And by "_courting_**" **they actually meant "_copulating with_**"**. If Fandral was nowhere to be seen, you could be sure he was going at it with someone else's son.

_Hormones_.

Váli was the second youngest brother, and could be described as "a fabulous bitch". Fabulous because he was very charming, and glamourous and handsome. Bitch because, well, he WAS a bitch.

And last but definitely not least, Loki. The youngest and most inconvenient, irritating and provoking of them all.

Loki was mischievous, so he liked to prank. Loki was curious, so he liked to touch things. Loki was adventurous, so he liked to go everywhere. Especially forbidden places. Especially with his older brother, Thor.**  
****  
**Those. Two.

THOSE TWO.

Those two were always getting in trouble. Even though Thor was the second oldest son, and therefore SHOULD be somewhat responsible, Thor would always do what Loki wanted him to do. He claimed he did so just to keep a closer eye on Loki, but most suspected it was really because he enjoyed pulling pranks with his younger brother.

After their pranks numbered into thousands, Heimdall, who is the Gate-Keeper and See-All of the Nine Realms (also, Loki's personal babysitter, but he'd never admit it. Nor would he ever admit that he actually _needed _a babysitter.) just stopped bringing the matter to the knew about his son's tricks. He also knew about Thor's aid on some – most – of those tricks. But no matter how many times the All-Father gave his sons an earful, they never learned their lesson.

Sometimes, he even had to punish them. Nothing too strict, but a reminder so Loki would think twice before playing a trick and Thor would think twice before assisting his little , none of his punishments had the desired effect on his today, the AllFather was , his boys were going to be showing their abilities against each other. With no death allowed, obviously. And this was Loki's first year in the Competition, which made it twice as special.

He sat down on his Throne, in the middle of the Hall Theater, on the best spot. Frigga was by his side, looking as content as ever, as they watched the Frost Giants gathering around and sitting down to watch the show.

It all started with Baldr. He walked on the center of the stage, greeting everyone but keeping his gaze on his father. Högun was the second one to appear, not making any sound, but bowing at the audience.

Their fight was short, but precise. Högun was a master of attack, while Baldr was a master of defense. Being the oldest brother, Baldr was much more experienced than the others, but Högun's passion was fighting. Being quiet by nature, it was easy for him to pay attention to his surroundings and analyze the best way to attack.Högun won without problems, but Baldr was great on his own. The crowd clapped, and Odin couldn't keep the smile off his face. His boys were growing into strong men. Baldr got off the stage to sit by his father, and asked "How did I do, All-Father?"

"You did well, my son. Nice of you to let your brother win." Odin pointed out as Volstagg entered the arena.

"Oh, don't give me all of the credit. Högun did great on his own, and I actually thought he was going to kill me at one point." Baldr sneered, nearly emotionless as he watched Högun and Volstagg's battle.

He didn't like to let his brothers win. It didn't happen all the time, but every now and then, Odin advised him to let his younger brothers defeat him, to motivate them even more. Baldr considered it cheating, but since it was what his father desired, did so without question.

Their fight was even shorter than Baldr's, since Volstagg pretty much let Högun win with no effort at all. Volstagg didn't really care about winning - or showing his abilities - he'd won in every other competition with his brothers. Even Högun. So he thought that this time, it'd be okay to make it brief.

When Volstagg sat by Odin's other side, his father was not as content as he was with Baldr. "Why didn't you fight enough, my son?"

"Högun is a great warrior, father. I do not need to show my skills when he's around," he responded.

"Well, next time try to fake interest in the contest," the All-Father retorted, a little insulted that his red-headed son wasn't even pretending to fight like his older brother did.

Baldr caught his father's attention, gesturing for him to look back at the competition as Högun and Fandral took the stage. Högun was more than ready for his brother, but this was his third consecutive battle and Fandral was fresh and ready with a few ideas up his sleeve.Högun attacked as quickly as ever, but Fandral was faster. He had the aid of a sword, and while it wasn't as deadly as Högun's, it sure had some tricks. Blinded by his desire to win once more, the black-haired son didn't even see where his brother went, he looked around and forget to defend showed up behind him, ready to end the fight with one swift move from his sword, but stopped before the weapon could hit his brother. It was finished; he won. No need to actually draw blood from each other. Högun – gloomily, one of the very few times the Jötunn saw him express a reaction – accepted his defeat and dashed to the King and his brothers, silently apologizing for not winning all of the battles.

"That was skillful, my son. However, you should've paid more consideration to your defenses." was Odin's reply, and Högun nodded, seating himself so he could watch the next fight.

Fandral was checking his appearance using his sword as a mirror, as Váli adjusted his clothes before the fight could begin. Once given the signal to start, Fandral dashed to the encounter, but Váli made a pink-shaded energy ball and launched it at his blonde brother. Fandral managed to evade before getting hit, but Váli was a magic user, so he could do a lot of damage before even having to touch his fight was a mix between magic and actual sword hits, and after a moment Fandral accidentally tore part of Váli's costume. The brown-haired Jötnar reacted as if he himself had been hurt, and in a fit of rage started attacking Fandral, his pink magic turning different shades of red at every shot, but before Odin could interfere-

"You. Destroyed. My. Clothes!" Váli snarled at his older brother, and one of his spells hit Fandral. His blonde brother seemed fine at first, the redish icy dust leaving his face bit by bit, but once it vanished, Fandral touched his head and _where did his hair go_?

"You burned my hair!" Fandral screamed back. And within a second, the once-normal fight between brothers took on a more serious tone. Váli couldn't see through his tears, so Fandral's sword got near his neck, slightly touching his throat. He surrendered, but not before breaking down crying and running to his father.

Odin sighed, but patted his younger son on the shoulder, "We can acquire new clothes, Váli. Stop crying."

Now came one of the moments Odin was looking forward the most. While Fandral caressed his newly bald head gloomily, Thor stepped on the stage. Odin expected nothing less than victory from his second oldest son. He expected only gently waved to the crowd, Mjölnir - his hammer, a gift from his father - on the other hand as he patiently waited for his glum brother to get ready.

"Worry not, my brother..." Thor explained as he dropped Mjölnir on the ground, "I won't fight with you like this. Instead, I'll use my own hands."

Which should have given Fandral a little bit of advantage against him, but this is Thor we're talking about. Within a few minutes, Fandral was on the ground. The bigger Jotnar offered his hand to the shorter one, helping him to get up and back to the stand where his brothers and father were sitting.

"Father, I..." He started, but Odin silenced him with a gentle hand.**"**You did well, Fandral. Your brother merely showed his own skills, and therefore won this way."

Fandral nodded, but as soon as he sat down next to Váli, he shot a glare at his younger brother and whispered, "_Fix. This_."

Thor simply smiled, excited to finally be able to fight with _Loki_. It wasn't really about the fight, but about the chance to spend more time with his little brother and show everyone - including, especially, _their father _- how much Loki was capable of. How worthy Loki could be. How **proud **of him Thor was.

So they waited. They all waited. A few minutes passed, which quickly turned to hours, still with no sign of Loki.

Odin's patience wearing thin, he asked the guards to go to Loki's room, find the boy and bring him back. When they don't find him, Odin roared.

"I'll find him, father!" Thor yelled, running away from the Theater. Maybe if he could find his brother quickly, Odin wouldn't be as mad. Maybe he wouldn't punish Loki this time. Maybe he could try to reason with both his father and brother.

But _where _was Loki?


	2. Mysterious Midgardian Stuff

Loki was okay with his life. Not entirely happy, but okay. He had six wonderful brothers, one mother he loved so much and a very protective father. He was also the youngest prince of Jötunheim, so every Jötunn knew and respected him.

There were some who even spoiled the little Prince. He'd get gifts, treats, and plenty of praise from his admirers.

But honestly? None of it excited him anymore.

It was the same thing everyday: Get a few wedding requests, refuse all of them, play some pranks on all of the Frost Giants who asked, get an earful from Father, ask Thor's assistance on more pranks, get even more earful from Father, call it a day.

It's not that it wasn't funny. Some of his pranks even kept him entertained for a few hours, But Loki was growing tired of it. Even his best pranks couldn't distract him from the fact that each day was the same as the day before, and the day before that.

Sometimes he'd have a few other things to do, you know, duties of royalty and all that.

The All-Father insisted on the Fighting Competition because it was a tradition. Every hundred years they'd hold the Competition between the sons of the King, giving them the chance to show off their skills against each other. This was supposed to be Loki's first competition, true, but did he have any _desire_ to fight? _Hardly_.

He didn't care. He was up against _Thor_, of all people. He refused to be compared to his brother. Don't get him wrong, Loki loved Thor more dearly than anyone else, but he just couldn't handle the way the rest of the frost giants_ fawned_ over his older brother.

As if that weren't bad enough, they were constantly comparing him to Thor. If not Thor, to his other brothers. Loki was never good enough for them. He was never well-built enough, strong enough, skilled enough, fast enough.

Everything Loki did, his brothers could do better.

There was only one thing he was better at than them: his intelligence. Loki was smarter than everyone. His logic was impeccable. If there was a puzzle, Loki could solve it. The other frost giants came to him all the time with riddles and tough problems, and he solved them every time. But being the youngest son, and the most bookish of them all, meant no one took him seriously, especially when it came to fighting. Taking him for granted had become a habit for the rest of Jötunheim.

Why bother showing up at all?

He'd made up his mind when he woke up that day. He wasn't going to the Competition. He wasn't even going to play a prank. Today he was going to explore the lands. That would be far more interesting than an unfair dispute.

It's been some time since he'd last explored. Last time, he and Thor had gotten in trouble because they _almost_ crossed the Bifrost Bridge. They didn't really do it on purpose, they'd just gotten caught up in exploring and wandered too far away from the Palace.

According to their father – who was very angry at their _slip_ – they were forbidden to traverse it because the bridge would lead to a distant Realm called _Midgard_.

That was when Loki first got curious about the mysterious planet. Odin wouldn't tell him much about it, he just said it was _dangerous_ because the creatures living in Midgard – called _Midgardians_ – weren't like the Jötunn. That was all he knew on the matter.

Which only made Loki's curiosity increase.

One day, in the middle of one of his pranks, he found a flat black box on the ground. It was retangular, with a clear window in the middle and what like two spools of tape stuck inside. What could it be for? The tape threaded along one of the long sides of the box, and Loki discovered that when he pulled, large amounts of tape would come out of the box and pool around his feet. After several frustrating minutes of trying to stuff the tape back in, Loki gave up on the joke and went to ask Thor what that black box was.

His brother didn't know.

He went to his other brothers. None of them knew either.

Finally, he decided to risk it and ask his father about the black box. Odin widened his eyes, yelling that whatever it was, the _'thing'_ was from Midgard and it should be destroyed. Which was what he promptly did, even if the little prince begged his father not to burn it.

After that day, he decided not to show Odin anything else he found. But Thor still knew he was seeking out more Midgardian stuff – and ocasionally he even helped with the seeking – and keep his secret. Loki could only trust his brother on the matter.

And Heimdall. Because after he found a metal cylinder that seemed to vibrate – _tritari_ – he_ had_ to know how it and the other items had come to Jötunheim.

While at first the Gatekeeper was reluctant with it, he ended up keeping this _one_ secret from the Allfather. He didn't see the mortals as dangerous, at least not to the Jötunn. If anything, Heimdall thought it more likely that the Jötunn would hurt those fragile Midgardian beings.

None of the mysterious objects were harmful, so Heimdall decided to help Loki find them. He knew not the name for any of the items, but since the young Jotnar only wanted to have some fun – a_ hobby_ – he didn't see why not let it happen.

"What's this?" Loki asked, bringing him a black tiara with some kind of spongy black material jointed at each end. He knew what that was – he'd seen Midgardians putting them on their heads, over their ears – but he didn't comprehend what it was for.

"Oh, this?" Heimdall stuck his sword in the ground, taking the tiara in both hands and examining it, "It's a... heyrnartól" He decided to call it.

"Heyrnartól?" Loki asked keenly, grabbing the strange object quickly, "And what does it do?"

That he did not know. "They... use it on their heads." He said at last, pulling up his sword and resuming his watchful pose.

"What for?" Loki inquires, quickly putting the heyrnartól on his head and adjusting it. "Is it a fashion item?"

Hm. That explanation would have to do. "Yes. They use it to hold their hair together."

Loki's eyes shone with the revelation, fixing his hair with the Heyrnartól happily as he went back to his chambers to put it amongst the rest of his collection.

Loki began spending more and more time collecting Midgardian objects. Each new item found was different from the previous one, and Loki enjoyed trying to decipher what each thing was used for, on Midgard. It was obvious what some of the objects were for. Sometimes he found cooking utilities like pans, pots and kitchenware. But other times, he found things like the eldur léttari that Heimdall explained to him about, that were still a complete mystery. Loki hated unsolved puzzles, so the more mystery items he found, the more interested he became in actually visiting the realm to see how Midgardians used all of these fascinating things.

For now, he'd have to contain himself with the articles and his guesses as to their purpose. As much as he hated not knowing the answers, it was still more interesting than anything else he did, and infinitely better than showing off his not-so-astonishing skills in the competition.

He was in a temple on the day of the competition, one with painted scenes from the War. The objects he was hunting for would appear in random places at random times, so he had to be thorough in his search; there was no way to predict where to be and when to be there.

Heimdall explained that whenever he opened the Bifröst bridge, objects from the place connected to the bridge would sometimes get "lost" and turn up in Jötunheim.

This particular temple contained objects from every Realm in existence, not just from Midgard. It was also forbidden, but what father didn't know, wouldn't hurt him.

Loki stepped inside, looking around to see if there was anyone – or anything – nearby before finally stepping inside and starting his search. He saw the usual stuff: snow everywhere, some weapons taken from Asgard, flames of different colours dancing inside of bottles from Muspelheim; a variety of trinkets from across the realms.

He was about ready to give up when he saw a long retangular white box half-buried in the snow. He took it in his hands, brushing a few snow droplets off, examining the object. He pushed the buttons on it, but nothing happened. The little strap connected to one end seemed about the right length to go around his wrist – maybe it was used to keep hold of when fighting, like Thor did with Mjölnir?

Smiling to himself, he put the strange thing inside of a satchel he was carrying, and turned around to leave, only to come face-to-face with a large grey wolf.

Loki swallowed and froze, unsure of what to do. The wolf eyed him for a few seconds, then lifted its lips in a threatening snarl. Loki ran.

Loki ran as fast as he could, but the wolf was bigger and faster than him, and easily caught up with him. The wolf leapt forward, both paws catching Loki square in the back. He fell forward into the snow and turned to face the wolf again, shielding himself with his hands. The wolf was on top of him now, and Loki gulped, closing his eyes and wishing for the animal to get it over with as quickly as possible.

_This is it_, Loki thought to himself in those terrible seconds after closing his eyes, but instead of the growl of the wolf about to strike, he heard a loud thunder in the sky, when he opened his eyes, there was Thor, directing all the power of Mjölnir's lightning into the wolf.

It wasn't enough to kill the animal.

The wolf pulled itself back up on it's feet, even with all the intensity of the shock. Loki watched in horror as it leaped for Thor and sunk its fangs into his brother's shoulder. Dark blue blood spurted from the wound and coated the wolf's fur.

Loki quickly looked inside his satchel, searching for something that he could possibly use to separate the wolf from Thor. He found his short blades, quirked in different directions, and without hesitating he threw them hard and fast at the big wolf.

The blades didn't do much damage, but they hurt the animal long enough for Thor to stand up and smash his hammer on the beast's head.

Blood – red this time – quickly starts to stain the snow as Thor approached the creature to be sure it was dead. He then hoisted the body and threw it over his other shoulder like he might have done with his cape.

"You had your blades with you and didn't use them?" Thor asked, trying to catch his breath.

Loki frowned, "You saw that they had no use on the wolf. If I had thrown them earlier, I'd only have wasted them as it proceeded to kill and eat me."

His brother sighed, but walked over and hugged Loki with his injured arm, "I'm just glad you're safe."

Loki grudginly let Thor hug him for a few seconds before finally pulling away.

"Why didn't you ask me to come with you?"

"You had the contest to worry about." Loki pointed out.

Thor sighed once more, "I'd rather have come with you than bear father's anger because you were not there."

Now it was Loki who sighed. "Let's go home, brother."

He mentally prepared himself for what was to come.

Far from the magnificent tower the princes set off from, a dark figure lurked in the shadowy darkness of his cave.

Two Jötunn show up by the cave, then. A gigantic male and a shorter – by Jötunn standards – female. Laufey grinned, beckoning to them to come closer.

"So, Amora and Skurge. Found anything worth reporting?" He asks darkly.

"All we really discovered was that Prince Loki didn't attend to the Contest, sir." Amora replied dutifully. Skurge nodded.

Laufey laughed, low and sinister, before answering with a "_Cute_. Off brooding somewhere, was he?"

"At one of the painted temples, but Thor quickly came and rescued him." She said.

"Ah, big brother Thor always comes to the rescue, doesn't he?" Laufey's tone was bitter.

Odin was on his mind again, and the happier times they had together as brothers. Older brother Odin, always looking after him as _Thor_ did for _Loki_.

Before Odin betrayed him.

Laufey clenches his fists and turned around, glaring at his _servants_. He stalked toward them, noting how Skurge placed himself in front of Amora as he approached. "Keep an eye on these two. _Especially_ Loki. I want to know where they go, what they do, and who is with them. Perhaps _they _will be the key to my revenge."

Amora swallowed hard before answering "Y-Yes sir."

He grinned then, baring all of his teeth. "Perfect, my pets." He reached out and petted both Amora and Skurge's heads, expression pensive as he drew back into the darkness of the cave.


End file.
